To Soften A Heart
by Mercury
Summary: My entry for Athena's Daiken contest! Daisuke finds out some things about himself and Ken when he visits the Kaizer's base one evening...(Shounen-ai warning, obviously.)


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This is it; my entry for Athena's Daiken contest. (You really didn't think I'd skip over that contest, did you? PLUS! The prize is a fic by her! *squeak* Wish me luck!) *ahem* Yeah...I attempted to shift it from dramatic and dark to semi-fluffy-angsty all in the same fic. ^^* I really like the way it turned out.  
  
I don't own Digimon, just the fic. And it took me about a week and a half to write this, so I think I deserve a few good reviews! *hint-hint*  
  
Chibi Dai- Yeah! Review Mercury-san or I'll throw Life Savers at you!  
  
Chibi Kenny- *raises his eyebrows at Chibi Dai* You don't have to resort to violence, Dai-chan.  
  
Chibi Dai- *blush-blush*  
  
Ahh, yes, Emilia was kind enough to give me not only Chibi Dai for my muse collection, but also Chibi Kenny! And they really like each other...  
  
Chibi Kenny- Now on to the fic! *nod*  
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'To Soften A Heart'  
by Mercury  
  
  
  
He sat back, perfection etched in his regal posture. Surrounded by darkness that was interrupted only by grey-lighted screens, his cold eyes glinted as he watched the figure move around clumsily. The figure that was making its way through that parallel world, to reach the hidden lair of that cold-eyed human being.  
  
Ichijouji Ken mortally detested the coldness of his own eyes. He often stared blankly at his reflection in whatever odd mirror hung in that cursed base, trying to determine what could soften his eyes...and sometimes wondering what could soften his heart.  
  
He used his icy eyes to focus nearly madly on the figure that came so much closer to his base every instant. It made him uetterly furious to think that anyone would be coming there, most likely in an attempt to dethrone him.  
  
Still he watched as that boy came nearer with every step to that darkened lair. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the moving figure, no matter how hard he tried.   
  
Eventually he switched off the monitors and sat back to wait for what he interpreted as a beseigement of his hideout by one Motomiya Daisuke. He waited throughout the afternoon and on into the evening before a defiant thud signaled a door being slammed far below him.  
  
"Ah, finally. It took him until nightfall, but at least he made it." Ken stood up, never once tossing his perfect posture, and again waited. This time, however, it was only a short time until Daisuke burst into the main room.  
  
"Hm, Daisuke, all alone this time?" Ken taunted. "Did you ditch your friends, or are they just going to let you get yourself killed?"  
  
"Just shut up!" Daisuke balled his fists. "I came here for a fight."  
  
"Oh really! You honestly think your puny little Digimon could--"  
  
"I'm not using V-mon; in fact, I left him at home just to prove it."  
  
Ken's posture and cocky attitude faltered for a second, and his eyes widened. But he quickly regained his composure and grinned arrogantly at the other boy.  
  
"Very well then. If you are referring to fighting me hand-to-hand, I won't deprive you of the pleasure." Though he talked tough, he felt slightly nervous inside. He knew he really wasn't one to be fighting like that, but he refused to be weak about it.  
  
While he was still wearing his conceited grin, Daisuke cought him off-guard and landed a swift punch right into the other boy's stomach. He succeeded in knocking his enemy to the ground, and stood over him with his hands still fists.  
  
"Give up yet, Kaizer?" Daisuke growled.  
  
"Not ever to you!" Ken replied, hurtling himself from the floor to, in turn, knock Daisuke to his back.  
  
Daisuke's arms flailed wildly as Ken held him down. He scratched and clawed and attempted to get out from under the grip of his enemy, until at one point he swept the dark glasses right off of Ken's face and flung them across the floor. With nothing obstructing his veiw, he could see just exactly what the eyes of his enemy looked like. He stopping flailing and simply stared, until Ken gave him a confused look and backed away.  
  
After a long silence that left Ken turned away from Daisuke and both of them still sitting on the floor, Daisuke spoke up. "How come you hide your eyes?" he asked.  
  
"Oh..." Ken sounded flustered. "I don't have to tell you."  
  
Daisuke raised his eyebrows and looked at his hands. There was a streak of blood along his right knuckles, and he assumed that he must have actually hurt Ken during one of his many punches and scratches.  
  
"Did I hurt you?" he asked.  
  
"Not really." Ken huffed softly and said, "Anyway, I thought that was your goal."  
  
"No, I was just mad." Daisuke looked over at Ken, who was still turned away from him. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Such an easy thing for you to say."   
  
"You know, I think you really need to talk to someone," Daisuke pointed out. "I mean, one minute you're mean and the next minute you're calm and quiet."  
  
"Just...go away!" Ken roared suddenly. He stood up quickly and still did not face Daisuke. "Never in my life have I needed to talk to anyone."  
  
"Everyone needs to talk sometimes, Ken."  
  
"Don't call me that." Ken gritted his teeth. "I never allow anyone to call me by my name."  
  
"Well, now, that's just strange. Would you please turn around so I can see if I hurt you or not?" Daisuke was somewhat frustrated at Ken's changing moods.  
  
Ken spun to face him. His face looked pale in the dim light, and a thin trickle of blood traced his jawbone on the left side. Daisuke looked at him from his position still on the floor.  
  
"I may be annoying," he said slowly, "But I've been told that I'm a good listener."  
  
Ken huffed again and frowned. "I don't have to talk to you. I never talk to anyone."  
  
"Well, that's your problem. If I tell you some things about me, will you tell me some things about you?" Daisuke smiled and patted the floor beside him in an inviting gesture. "Come on and sit down."  
  
Ken moved reluctantly to the spot and sat down to face Daisuke. "You...go first," he said slowly.  
  
Daisuke grinned. He knew that if he could ever shatter that tough, outer exterior that Ken had built up, he could reach the sweet perseon he knew was inside. With Ken sitting there on the floor beside him, then, he felt sort of nervous...almost like he was thrilled for the other boy to sit so close to him. But he shook it off and began to talk.  
  
"Allright," he said. "About me. I have a mom and dad who are almost always at work, and an older sister who is a real pain."  
  
Ken stiffened. "Don't take your sister for granted," he said quietly.  
  
Daisuke gave him a quirky look. "Uh...why not?"  
  
"One day she may be gone." He pulled a picture from the folds of his regal robes and handed it to Daisuke, turning his head away again so as not to look the other boy in the eyes.  
  
Daisuke studied the picture. "It looks sort of like you," he concluded.  
  
"My brother," Ken responded. "My brother, who passed away five years ago."  
  
Daisuke blinked. He had not expected Ken to tell him anything so private, so soon, and he had the sudden urge to hold him close...to wrap his arms around his enemy. He shook his head and looked at Ken, who eventually made eye contact again.  
  
"I suppose Osamu is still a hard subject for me to handle." He smiled a smile mixed with sadness, anger, and irony. "I really don't know why I continue to tell you. You're my enemy."  
  
"I don't have to be your enemy." The minute he said it, Daisuke's eyes widened and Ken looked confused.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ken's purple eyes, still uncovered by the loss of his glasses, glinted brightly, and Daisuke noticed that his once-tiny pupils had grown to be normal-looking eyes.  
  
"Well," Daisuke told him slowly, "I want to be your friend."  
  
"But why?"  
  
"Because I'm sure you're really a nice person, underneath all your layers of nasty." Daisuke cocked an eyebrow. "You know, I think your hair looks better down." He immediately wished he hadn't said anything.  
  
"You...complimented me." Ken smiled, this time not in an evil or taunting way.   
  
Daisuke felt himself blush slightly as he said, "You have a very pretty smile." Instantly he wondered what posessed him to say that to Ken.  
  
Ken looked suprised. "Now you've said two nice things about me. You confuse me, Motomiya."  
  
"Call me Daisuke; I hate when people use my last name as a title."  
  
"Daisuke, then." Ken looked around, then at Daisuke. "Now you can call me Ken."  
  
"Of course!" Daisuke grinned broaddly. "Now we're getting somewhere."  
  
"Keep telling me about you," Ken said quickly.  
  
Daisuke secretly took notice that, with no one else around, Ken was easily a different person. "Well, I like soccer. You know that. And..." He thought a minute, then blurbed, "I don't really love Hikari or anything. I just pretend to."  
  
Ken blinked at him. "You waste love on simple pretending? That's idiotic. If you were like me, you would cherish every moment you had that involved love. I hardly know the definition of the word." He sighed dramatically and blinked back tears. "And to think you have enough love to throw away in faking it over some girl."  
  
Daisuke was startled by Ken's outburst. "You mean to tell me that you feel unloved?"  
  
Ken nodded slowly.  
  
"That's so untrue! You're parents--"  
  
"Just want Osamu back," Ken cut him off.  
  
"You're friends..." Daisuke tried again.  
  
"Are non-existant." Ken again finished the sentence on a negative note.   
  
"I'm your friend," Daisuke said. "That's a promise."  
  
A glint of happiness crossed Ken's face, but vanished quickly. "Don't raise my hopes for only to crush them with your next action."  
  
"But Ken..."  
  
"I shouldn't have even told you what I have." Ken again turned away from him. "I've never understood you people and your love."  
  
Daisuke looked at Ken's back and heard the obvious sound of tears being fought back behind his words. He frowned and saw that the tears were winning the battle, as Ken's shoulders began to shake violently from the force of his crying.  
  
"Aw, now, don't cry," Daisuke said softly. "Surely it can't be all that bad." He hesitantly put his arm around Ken's trembling shoulders. "You'll make your pretty eyes all red."  
  
Ken turned slightly so that he was crying more into Daisuke's chest than out in the open. Daisuke, in turn, put his arms around Ken in a tight hold. He simply sat like that while Ken sobbed freely, letting out tears that had been building up for a very long time over many different things.  
  
Finally Ken pulled back. His hair, which had lost its spiky look, fell messily into his tears, and his eyes were wide in astonishment. "You held me, and you let me cry." He paused, then whispered, "...Why?"  
  
"Because," Daisuke replied in a whisper just like Ken's, "You're only crying because you want to know what love is like."  
  
Ken's eyes, if possible, grew wider. "L-love? No one as evil as I deserves it."  
  
"Everyone deserves to be loved. Plus, I don't think you're really as evil as you try to be."  
  
Ken again rested his head against Daisuke's chest. "You'd be suprised," he sighed.  
  
"No," Daisuke said, "I wouldn't be suprised at all. For a long time I've admired you, and I've watched what you do."  
  
"And yet you still believe that I have good in me. Hm. You are a strange person, Daisuke. You waste love, and you don't think I'm evil. I could call out some slave Digimon and show you just how evil--"  
  
"You wouldn't do it." Daisuke brushed his fingers through Ken's hair. "I've seen the real you. You're a totally different person without your tough-guy looks and actions. And you don't scare me."  
  
"I'm...glad," ken murmured softly. He closed his eyes and laid against Daisuke, letting the other boy work his enchanting spells of enotions on his fragile self.  
  
Daisuke realized that he was winning Ken over, but he also noticed how emotionally worn the young genius was. Though he had gotten through to the real Ken, he almost felt ashamed to be seeing him in such an awkward moment.  
  
Ken looked up at Daisuke sleepily. "I still don't understand why you're treating me like this."  
  
"I'm showing you love."  
  
Ken's eyes lost their sleepiness, and he shot out of Daisuke's arms. "No!" he exclaimed. "I don't deserve it! It would just be another waste!"  
  
"Oh, Ken...You just don't see things the way I do," Daisuke smiled. He looked intently at Ken, then said, "You've been so open with me. It's like it only took a little love to change you completely."  
  
Ken looked down at his Kaizer outfit. "I'm sorry," he told Daisuke. "And I thank you."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"You helped me to understand the positive emotions that I had forgotten."  
  
Daisuke blushed bright pink. "Well, I thank you, Ken. For your apologies, and for letting me help you. I discovered my true feelings for you..." He stood up, startling Ken, and added, "I love you."  
  
Ken, too, stood up. "I...I love you...too."  
  
Daisuke smiled. Though the evening had not gone as he originally planned, he was pleased with the outcome.  
  
Ken smiled back at him. Between the confusion and chaos of the night, he had gone from being hated to being loved.  
  
True love can soften the hardest of hearts.  
  
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And that, ladies and gents, is what comes when you have strep throat and too many ideas floating around in your head. *cough* Hai, I'm sick...but whatever...so long as I'm better by my birthday on Sunday! (February 18th...me is happy! ^^; I'll be 14. I get a Wormmon plushie and the Digimon movie!)   
  
You know, after a lot of hinting, I got dubbed the Queen of Ken Torture by a real-life friend of mine. I don't know if I like that or not...*giggle*  
  
Chibi Dai- Ken...torture??   
  
Chibi Kenny- ......  
  
Both Chibis- *back away slowly*  
  
o.O;; I think I scared them...^^;  
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End file.
